Toby Fox
Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life

June 5th marked the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, but that very same day (or the day before on other consoles), the highly anticipated continuation of Deltarune, in Chapters 3 and 4, also hit digital shelves.

If you've had the chance to catch our review, you'll know we fully believe this Undertale "follow-up" is worth the new price of entry too, even if there are three more chapters to go. With big games like Mario Kart World and Cyberpunk 2077 ready and available for play, I've instead chose to sink more time into the indie darling that is Deltarune. It's silly yet simultaneously serious world and characters have their hooks in me and it's all I find myself thinking about night after night.

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To help me try and silence those voices and get a few extra hours of sleep, I was graciously given the chance to pepper Deltarune's creator, Toby Fox, with a few of the questions that have been knockin' about in my noggin. Did Toby answer my questions? Yes. Did he also take every opportunity to run in a different direction and troll me? Yes, and yes, but that's truly for you to decide. Did I love every part of his reply? Absolutely. Mild spoilers ahead by the way.

Nintendo Life (Zion Grassl): The game show element introduced in Chapter 3, hosted by Tenna, has his third round of the show abruptly cancelled. Did you ever have more fleshed out plans for that third round, or were you always planning to cancel it on the poor guy?

Toby Fox: We made most of it, but cut it because it slowed down the pacing too much. To put it in words that fans will understand, "Your taking too long" + "the game's getting old."

Deltarune
Mr. Tenna, sir, you're hoggin' all the air time — Image: Toby Fox

What drove you to make the [REDACTED] boss fight in Chapter 3 a seemingly impossible fight and how do you playtest something so difficult?

You mean Elnina + Lanino? Yeah, there's actually a playtester that gave up at that point... Well, I didn't make it that hard on purpose. But, I did make it so that if you get a Game Over and you have no points and no healing items, you get 2 TV Dinners for free.

After using "ILoveTV" a couple times, it should be enough to beat the battle just by defending and healing, so keep trying!

What sort of music brings you joy these days and what are a few musicians you find yourself listening to? Also, are you aware of the artist Porter Robinson? I feel like you two would make great pals and I'd selfishly love to see how you two could collaborate!

I'm excited for the new anamanaguchi album, "Anyway".

I heard Porter Robinson before... that's right, the name of the music video was... "Shelter" (upon saying that word, his eyes glaze over, he steps back into the darkness and the door closes behind him...)

that's right, the name of the music video was... "Shelter" (upon saying that word, his eyes glaze over, he steps back into the darkness and the door closes behind him...)
"I'll give them shelter, like you've done for me." — Image: Toby Fox

How has it been developing for Switch 2 and have you had any thoughts of how you could take advantage of the unique hardware again down the road?

It was kind of like the Nintendo Switch, but a much much bigger number, and strong. Down the road I'd like to take advantage of the unique hardware to play Donkey Kong Bananza.

I can't believe they misspelled "Bananaz" but I'll let it slide because they turned the rock into a girl. I wonder if she was originally intended to stay a rock, but then they realized that she didn't sing rock music, she sang girl music.

How has it felt releasing your story in chunks/chapters like this, as opposed to a fully complete package and when are you personally hoping to have the final chapter of Deltarune release? Are we cursing you by even asking such a question?

I've never called them chunks. Maybe I should start calling them chunks? Like, here comes Chunk 5. I mean, that would be great if it was a game about cavemen, like Chuck Rock, or Bonk. That being said, I do feel like calling each episode a "Chapter" really undersells the fact that creating each one is like developing its own game. I've made the equivalent of like 2 and a half Undertales at this point. Continuously.

As for when it comes out, it should be out when it's done, which is as soon as it's finished, which, in my opinion, sooner would be better, but it takes a while. If it takes too long everybody is going to say " you're taking too long" and then I'll say "I'm old!" They'll have to revive me

When trying to ask Toby about the [REDACTED] boss fight in Chapter 3, he seemingly misunderstood us and assumed we meant the Elnina + Lanino fight. Our bad there.
When trying to ask Toby about the REDACTED boss fight in Chapter 3, he...ummm...seemingly misunderstood us and thought we meant the battle with Elnina + Lanino. Whoops! — Image: Toby Fox

Big thanks to Toby for taking the time away from his never ending development cycle to answer our questions.

Deltarune is now available on the eShop and currently includes Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4. You can also try the first two chapters for free by downloading the demo. All future chapters will be added to the paid package as and when they release

Let us know if you're enjoying Deltarune on Switch 2 in the comments!